Diamond Carousel
by Siblynika
Summary: James proposes to Lily with a little help from his friends.


Authors Note: I'm back after almost 2 years, a lost account, forgotten password… lots of stuff, basically. After getting in (and out) of the military, VERY long medical story that no one really cares about; I got married and found out almost exactly 6 weeks later that we have a baby on the way. Well, that's old news, seeing as I'm 3 months along now.

Anyway, this is a repost of one of my former stories 'Diamond Carousel' only revised, improved, and most of all: FINISHED.

Disclaimer: I hereby state that I do not own any of these lovely characters. Without further ado, I'll shut up and let y'all read.

An alarm blared beside James Harold Potter's bed. Blindly, he groped around for the off button, only succeeding in knocking it off of the nightstand where it continued its protests from the floor. James muttered something under his breath as he aimed, what appeared to the uneducated mind, a stick, from under the covers. His eyes grew wide as he realized that one cannot aim at an object to ignite it with another object in the way, AKA: his blanket.

"HOLY MOTHER OF DUMBLEDORE'S BEARD!" he shrieked as he frantically kicked away the covers, landing sprawled out on the floor, next to his Snitch alarm clock, which was still blaring. Snatching up his wand, he aimed, this time directly at his clock before he extinguished his blanket. With a sigh of relief, he managed to catch a glimpse of his calendar which said, in large red letters on November 15th, PROPOSE TO LILY.

"Today's the day!" He sang, skipping over to his wardrobe in a **very** heterosexual manner (COUGH). Pretending to ponder over his dominantly black wardrobe, he pulled out a black turtle neck and black pants; a contrast to the scarlet and gold Gryffindor boxers he currently wore. Running a comb through his untidy black hair, James shot a wink to himself in the mirror. He grabbed a bagel on his way out the door, pulled on his long black coat, bagel dangling in his mouth as he did so. As an afterthought, he added the scarlet scarf Lily had knitted him last Christmas to his ensemble.

James flipped out a gold note pad, and began to review the list his friend, Remus, had suggested he make. His reasoning for this, Remus' that is: "Knowing you, James, you'll propose and forget the ring". Just how dumb did he think he was?

**Pick up engagement ring**

Obviously pretty freaking stupid. But perhaps Moony did have a point. James began to walk to the jewelry store, not too far from his apartment, had Lily lived closer, he might be a bit more inconspicuous, luckily for him, she didn't, and thus James proceeded to dance and sing down the length of the street, without a care as to who might be watching.

"I'm getting engaged today!" he announced as he burst into the jewelry store. A short girl with shoulder length, dirty blonde hair, whirled around, clasping her hands to her chest as she did so, breathing heavily. "Bloody 'ell, James" she gasped. "Would it kill ya to be a lil quieter?"

"Cassie?" James asked, stunned to see her. "What are you doing here…. Are you proposing to Sirius? Oh my God I need to congratulate him and tell him! We can get married at the same time and-" before James managed to overexcite himself, Cassie, or Dorcas Meadowes, as her birth certificate stated, managed to whip her wand out and stick it in her giddy friend's face.

"I would seriously calm down if I were you" James tried not to giggle, even as Cassie's hazel eyes seemed to glow in anger, he couldn't help but notice that she had to stand on the very tips of her toes in order to get in wand pointing range of his face, as she now was.

"You're really short" he managed to choke out without bursting into gails of laughter. Cassie simply rolled her eyes.

"I blame genetics". She then removed her wand from James' face before snorting herself, "Do you seriously think Sirius will ever get married? I'd like to see the day the man settles down enough to tie himself down for life."

"Well, then why-?" James asked, perplexed

"Remus' idea" Cassie rolled her eyes affectionately at the mention of one of their mutual friends "He wanted to make sure you stayed on schedule"

"Good ol' Moony. He respects how important this is and that it must be PERFECT"

"That, and none of us will hear the end of it if it's NOT perfect" Cassie smirked

"Lily deserves nothing short of absolute perfection" James declared, thrusting his index finger in the air, in protest.

"I'm just playin' with ya, Jamesey" Cassie shook her head sadly, "When you get married will you get over this obsessive compulsive thing with Lily?" James pretended to think hard for a moment.

"Unlikely"

"I thought so"

"Anyway, where's the ring then?"

"Right here, I took the liberty of borrowing one of Lily's rings to get it sized right"

"Thank you, if I weren't getting _engaged_" he did the 'manly' alternate to a squeal "I'd kiss you" James instead just hugged her, bending over a bit as his 5'11 frame towered over her 5'2.

"I'm pretty sure Lily would smack you for it" Cassie laughed good naturedly, knowing nothing, and no one, would ever pull James away from Lily.

James looked at his list as he left the store, sliding the ring box into his coat pocket as he did so.

**Flowers** **(****RED CARNATIONS**are Lily's favorite)

"Even I knew Lily preferred carnations" James snorted. Even though he hadn't known before he read that. James began going through the flower arrangements (the flower shop was, conveniently, next door to the jewelry store). When suddenly….

Someone grabbed around his middle and lifted him up, spinning him around rather awkwardly. James smacked the figure, "SIRIUS!" he shouted, red-faced and breathless, seeing as his lungs were sort of constricted at that moment, not even needing to turn around to see who the culprit was.

"That's my name" Sirius laughed, his dark brown eyes sparkling with mirth. Just barely taller than James, the two men could look like brothers. The main difference being, while James' hair never went the direction it was supposed to, Sirius never went out without styling his hair, which was just starting to curl around his ears as it grew out.

"Let me guess, you're here to make sure I get carnations?" James asked

"What the bloody hell are carnations?" Sirius tilted his head, looking remarkably like a dog as he did so, utterly confused

"They're a flower"

"But her name's Lily"

"I know!" James threw his arms up in the air "That's what I said"

The flower stand girl began preparing the bouquet as the two wizards talked.

"So you're finally settling down" Sirius mused, mostly to himself

"I always thought we'd get married at the same time" James agreed, taking a sidewise glance to see his reaction

"Well, I would be except…. Nevermind"

"What?" James prompted

"Well, Cassie doesn't think I want to. She still thinks of me as the player in Hogwarts. She says she _could_ but she says stupid things like 'we're still kids', 'we have plenty of time for that later', or, here's her new favorite, 'why ruin the good thing we have?'" Sirius sighed, "The woman is infuriating. She says she's ready to settle down, and then she goes and turns the tables on me and makes it sound like it was MY idea" James studied the crestfallen face of his best friend.

"Don't you think she's afraid you might get divorced like her parents did? They were married less than a year, you know"

"I suppose. But, it's not like I'm positive that I'm ready to settle down either… with You-Know-Who on the loose, it seems that everything's pointed in the right direction for us to, but then…" Sirius took a deep breath, "I'm just afraid I'm going to lose her if we don't make the right choice and if getting married turns out to be the wrong move, then I'll lose her for sure."

"How do you know? What's right for you isn't what's right for us." Sirius protested, "How do you, the Longbottoms or any of the others know when it's the right time to get married?"

"It's never the 'right' time" James admitted "But if you spend your whole life waiting for the right time or the right moment, you're going to miss out on life completely"

Sirius smirked, "When did you get so smart?" he teased

"Lily had to rub off on me at some point" James and Sirius both laughed as James paid for his flowers and left the shop.

**Dinner **(Turkey with stuffing, Lily's favorite)

Why had James decided to cook? Oh yeah….. Remus said it showed how much he cared and how considerate and mature he had become since Hogwarts. Honestly, James thought take-out Chinese would work just as well and had said so to Remus who just gave him 'the look'. You would think Remus was the one getting engaged with how well he'd thought out the proposal. "Why don't you just do it for me?" James teased, which only resulted in Remus smacking him on the back of the head.

James had called Cassie and Sirius over to assist him, Sirius so he'd have someone to talk to and Cassie so he could ditch her with all of the work; obviously, she was having none of this. Hence, why the two men now stood around the sink; holding the turkey gingerly in their fingertips; they looked skeptically at the carcass.

"So…" Sirius started, poking the stomach of the bird "Honey! What are we supposed to do?" he called out to the living room where Cassie sat, she looked up from her book.

"Pull its innards out and place them into that pot I put in the sink!" she was clearly annoyed at being interrupted.

"Do we cut its belly open?" James asked as he began to reach for a bread knife…

Cassie slammed her book onto her lap as she gazed toward the heavens, "Lord give me strength" she murmured, "They've never done this before" she reminded herself, finally shouting to the kitchen "NO! You prat! You pull 'em out"

"Pull out of where?" Sirius grasped the turkey by its leg and held it in the air, examining it carefully for any orifice he could remove said innards from; his eyes grew wide in realization.

"But there's no hole other than…" James' voice trailed off as he realized, as Sirius had, there indeed WAS a place to pull out the guts. Sirius released his hold on the turkey at once.

"Hell no" he protested, "There is no way I am sticking my hand up a turkey's arse"

"Well, I'm not going to!" James whipped his wand out and forced the turkey to fly at Sirius who squealed shrilly, batting the naked bird away, frantically. James dodged as the bird came flying back toward him, finally landing against the wall. The turkey slid down and made a faint 'squish' as it finally slumped to the floor.

"Honestly!" Cassie slammed her book shut and stormed to the kitchen. "You boys 'ave no problem ripping out a birds guts! What's so different about its arse?" Sirius began to open his mouth to explain, "Never mind! I don't think I want to know" She picked up the turkey from the floor, "If you do the dishes and make the salad, I'll do the turkey"

Sirius looked at James, they both looked at the carcass, then back to each other, "Deal" they said at the same time, rushing over to the sink. Cassie rolled her eyes, "Men" she smiled which faced to a grimace as she retrieved the bird, its naked flesh now flecked with grime. "I REALLY should've listened to my mother when she was trying to teach me all of those shortcut spells for cooking…" Cassie sighed, placing the turkey in the sink once again.

**Pick up Lily**

That was easy enough James snorted as he knocked on Lily's apartment door. Remus must really think he was an idiot which, coincidentally enough, Remus had also given him a list of things NOT to do. Number one on this list was to 'not act like a prat'. Really now, Lily had been dating them since their 7th year, he, quite frankly, thought the warning was a little unwarranted. Also listed was to not talk about quidditch, work, or bodily functions. Seriously? Did he think he was 15 again? All those thoughts vanished from James' mind as he looked at the beauty who answered the door.

Lily was wearing a sleek green dress that precisely matched her eyes and ended just above her knees with a tiny slit up the side. Her hair was loosely pinned up so a few curls framed her face. "Don't drool, don't drool" James chanted to himself. "That'd definitely qualify onto Remus' not-to-do list".

"Ummm…. James?" Lily cocked an eyebrow at her boyfriend. "Are you ok?"

"Yeth" James lisped as a small trickle of saliva managed to escape out of the corner of his mouth. Lily pretended not to notice as she giggled to herself, he hadn't changed **that** much since their Hogwarts years. "So are you ready?" James asked

"Hence why I'm wearing a coat" somehow, without James noticing, Lily had grabbed her black coat off the hook, slipped it on, and had her purse.

"Ooooh" James grinned like an idiot

"Okay, something's definitely up" Lily thought, taking James' offered arm, "He never acts this stupid when he sees me".

Oddly enough, dinner went on at James' house without a hitch. As they began to walk down the street, James turned Lily to face him."Lily" he started, she looked at him expectantly. "I have a surprise for you" he pulled out an emerald green, silk scarf, "But you have to let me blind fold you" Lily was not expecting this.

"Alright" Lily agreed, allowing James to tie the cloth over her eyes. Taking her hand, James continued down the street, Lily in tow, her hand firmly in his own.

"Honestly, James Harold Potter" Lily groaned, "Where are you taking me? I'm in heels, remember?" as if to emphasize her point, she stumbled over a crack in the concrete, James just barely caught her. Had Lily not been wearing a scarf over her eyes, he would've seen the death glare she was giving him.

"It's just a little further, my little flower" even though she couldn't see him, Lily could just picture the smug grin on his face. "We're here" James said, removing the blindfold. Lily gasped, "Oh, my, gosh….. James! I can't believe you remembered!"

Before them stood the most beautiful carousal Lily had ever seen. "How on Earth?" she looked at James "Remus" they said at the same time, laughing.

"It's the same one you used to ride at the festival when you were little" James explained, leading Lily up the ruby steps of the ride.

"But they tore it down-"Lily protested, but there it was, the same pure white horse she always rode: pink feather in her bridle, her saddle trimmed in gold. "Princess" Lily smiled, "I really wasn't a creative child"

"It's some sort of memory charm he found. So long as you have the same location, you can replicate the object" James shifted, uncomfortably, "It was my idea but, he always did so much better at Charms than I did, but I remembered!" he glanced at Lily to see her reaction. She smiled,

"It's perfect" throwing her arms about his neck, she kissed James' cheek, "This is the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me" burying her face in his chest, she grinned, "Even if you had to have a little help"

"Hey! What about 'it's the thought that counts?'" James whined, Lily silenced him by pressing her finger to his mouth,

"I'm just teasing you" she gave him a peck on the lips, "I love it"

"Well, it'll only be here for another 10 minutes" James admitted, "We couldn't find a stronger spell"

"I guess we better go for a ride then" Lily swung up onto her 'horses' saddle, "Are you joining?" James grinned as he mounted the black horse next to her.

As the carousal spun to stop, James dismounted and got down on one knee in front of Lily. "I know I'm irritating, immature, and inconsiderate at times-"

"Not exactly making a good argument for yourself there" James glared at Lily who then decided to just let him finish.

"But I love you more than life itself. I want to be there for you when you're old, and gray… and wrinkly"

"James-"

"but still just as beautiful!"

"Nice recovery"

"I want to be by your side through the good times and the bad; for better or worse. The only way I could think of making sure I would be there, is to be your husband. So, Lily Elizabeth Evans…" James pulled out the ring box "Will you marry me?"

"You had me at wrinkly" Lily giggled

"So is that a yes?" James asked hopefully,

"Yes, James Harold Potter… I will marry you" James then slid the ring onto Lily's finger, standing up, and wrapping his arms about her waist he gave one loud shout: "Whoopie!"

From inside the bushes, Sirius, Cassie, and Remus laid in wait. "Did he seriously just say 'whoopie'?" Remus groaned, setting his binoculars down by his side as he rubbed his brow in aggravation.

"Seems like it" Cassie confirmed, picking up the binoculars and focusing them on the happy couple.

"I'm going to kill him" Remus began to stand up.

"Oh, lighten up, Moony" Sirius laughed, "It wouldn't be James if he didn't say something completely ridicules".

"I guess not" Remus sighed, resigned.

"Why are you so concerned about him proposing in the first place?" Cassie looked at Remus who suddenly looked crestfallen.

"It's something I'll never get to experience" he admitted, turning away, "I could never doom someone I loved to give up the possibility of ever having children because of my condition; to ask her to become a complete outcast? That's too much to ask of anyone".

"You never know" Sirius attempted to cheer him up, "If you don't meet anyone in say, ten years, I'll fix you up with my baby cousin, she's a weirdo too." Remus snorted,

"Thanks for the offer"

"Don't mention it" Sirius smirked,

"I don't plan to... ever" Remus replied, rolling back over onto his stomach, watching as the happy couple laughed and danced around, seeing nothing around them, except each other.

Please review! Constructive criticism is much appreciated and I hope you enjoyed. It's been sitting in my documents for quite some time, it was nice to finally finish it. I originally had an ending with Sirius proposing to Cassie, but it didn't seem to really fit in with the sequence of events. Points for the REALLY corny ending? I think so .


End file.
